Veracity of the Kabbalistic Visions Tarot

That's GD right down the line, but something's strange with the cards. According to that list, the Magician should be Beth but it has Shin above in the "eye." The Moon should be Quoph but it has what looks like Ayin. The cards don't seem to match the book, at least not gregory's list.

EmyreanKnight, you might just have to go ahead a get it and read the book, then if you have any specific questions come back and ask. Not trying to kill discussion but it doesn't sound like anyone's actually read it. Or you might try the Books and Media forum, or Tarot Decks.

That's GD right down the line, but something's strange with the cards. According to that list, the Magician should be Beth but it has Shin above in the "eye."

Maybe it's pointing to something else. My guess would be that it represents the Hebrew word, OSh - Creation. The Eye is Ayin - O. The Shin is only visible when the Eye is open. The Eye seems to be acting as the apex of the Pyramid with the letters IHVH around it. (IHShVH)

The Magician has an inverted pyramid stuffed down his vegetable green tights. This would seem to indicate "As above, so below". Maybe the buckle on his belt continues the symbolism, but I can't make it out on the tiny scans available.

Is that "normal" ? Seems to be the order of the alphabet according to wikipedia... and the correspondences according to every site where I have ever looked this up.

Thanks for this again, gregory!

If these were the correspondences in the Kabbalistic Visions companion book, I was a bit puzzled. Referencing again the Liber Theta, there were two sets of inversions that I observed. One was the He: Emperor and Tzaddi: Star you mentioned, which was Tzaddi: Emperor and He: Star in the Liber Theta. The other one was Teth: Justice and Lamed: Force, which was Teth: Force (Lust) and Lamed: Justice (Adjustment) in the Liber.

So I counter-checked this out in my copy of The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot by the Ciceros, which was the companion book for my Golden Dawn Magical Tarot. Regarding the He: Emperor and Tzaddi: Star in the Kabbalistic Visions companion book, this is the exact same correspondence in the Golden Dawn Ritual, so it seems that these both run counter to the Liber Theta. But then, I just remembered: as per the Thelema: "Tzaddi is not the Star". So the correspondence for the Emperor and for the Star is still correct since it strictly follows the Golden Dawn one and not the Thelema. As far as I know this is the only Major Card-Hebrew Letter inversion between the two systems. So now at least that concern is laid to rest.

But the Teth: Justice and Lamed: Force inversion still remained. I thought that perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the position between Justice and Strength in the RWS (11 and 8 respectively) were reversed in the Thoth, with Adjustment (Justice) being 8 and Lust (Strength) being 11. But no, just like in the Liber Theta, in the Golden Dawn Ritual it was Teth: Force (Lust) and Lamed: Justice (Adjustment). So to triple check this, I went to Google Books to check out The Golden Dawn: A Complete Course in Practical Ceremonial Magic by Israel Regardie since I don't have a copy of that book (yet, I'll get it one day!). I think this is one definitive book when it comes to Golden Dawn teachings. Using the following search:

Ergo as per Regardie's book, Teth: Fortitude and Lamed: Justice, which is exactly as stated in the New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot book and the Liber Theta, and which all run counter to that in the Kabbalistic Visions companion book.

So it seems that in the Kabbalistic Visions Tarot, all the 22 Path-Hebrew Letter correspondences accurately follow the Golden Dawn. It also retains the 22 Majors-Hebrew Letter correspondence in the GD except for his inversion of Teth: Justice and Lamed: Force, which I think can be justifiably pegged as a personal quirk of Marini's and not because of shoddy scholarship. And now I'm very curious as to why he decided to assign them as such.

I got my copy of James Eshelman's minor rewrite from the same place. It's interesting to compare it to Israel Regardie's compilation of the GD papers in his Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic, which Regardie seemed to have not so much amended as padded out with a few of his own essays, duly attributed. Aleister Crowley also published his own slightly altered version in the Equinox in 1912. They all seem pretty close in content.

Thank you for this, Barleywine.

I looked at the Thelema Publications page ( http://www.thelema.org/publications/ ) where I downloaded the Liber Theta in the pdf link I previously mentioned. And you're right, that pdf was revised by James Eshelman. So he's the Frater ∏ mentioned in the first page of that Liber Theta edition. Thanks again!

"On this Tablet is shown the paths when arranged with Da' ath
added to the Sephirothic Tree. It differs from the other and more usual
attributions. Furthermore, it is not so correct as Da' ath is not properly
speaking a Sephira. . ."

It's curious that Crowley doesn't mention this diagram in his summary of the original Golden Dawn rituals. While his version was edited and abridged in places (*snip* 'wordy speeches' *snip*), it is still complete in it's description of what is shown to the candidate during his/her initiation. Neither is the diagram included among the various illustrations. I find it odd that he and J.F.C. Fuller went out of their way reproduce all the other diagrams, but forgot to include that one. Assuming it was there in the first place...

I have a copy of Pat Zalewski's, Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn (Zelewski's own creation with bits and pieces of Mathers unfinished work). In the first chapter he reproduces the alternate version of Tree side by side with the regular version. The former he calls the Perfected Tree, and the latter is the Restored Tree. He adds nothing to the question of origins, but his comments on the diagrams may be of interest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat Zalewski

The figure in the Twenty-First Key, we are told in the 2=9 ritual that she is 'Kallah the Bride' - the Bride of Microssopus (sic). This is the 'restored Kingdom'. Expressed in geometric terms of the Tree of Life the two following diagrams show the figure before and after the Fall.

In the Perfected Tree, Daath was a Sephiroth and Malkuth was not attached. The emanations reached into the Supernal. In order for the Tree to survive, it had to accept 'Kallah the Bride' from the lower echelon of the Tree. By accepting Kallah, the Tree had to accept matter, for Kallah was both. Daath was then closed and the Abyss was then implemented. Kallah is the entranceway to the Tree, through the World of Assiah - our world and she shows us the way. The destruction of the Perfected Tree was due to the premature openings of the Chakras. With Kallah now on the Restored Tree, a safety check is now there to prevent these unbalanced energies erupting again. She shows us the way to the correct path for enlightenment.

To summarise: The Perfected Tree (alternate Tree) is a model of creation before the Fall. Then the Fall, interpreted as the emergence of self consciousness, takes place and the Tree is 'restored' to the regular Kircher Tree we all know and love. This tree is the Path of Return.

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